1

Student Constructions of Fit: Narratives about Incongruence at a Faith-Based University

By

Nathan F. Alleman, Baylor University

Jessica A. Robinson, Baylor University

Elizabeth A. Leslie, Wake Forest University

Perry L. Glanzer, Baylor University

2

Student Constructions of Fit: Narratives about Incongruence at a Faith-Based University

Student persistence in higher education has become a crucial issue of focus for colleges

and universities that are seeking to improve student success and increase institutional prestige.

However, issues of institutional identity and student fit can complicate an already complex

intersection of factors that influence a student’s decision to stay or depart. Issues of fit may be

particularly germane at institutions with a clear religious faith orientation (Patton & Rice, 2009;

Rood, 2009). For example, Astin (1978, 1993) found that students who differ in religious identity

from their religiously-affiliated institution were more likely than average to drop out. Although

some initial quantitative studies have explored this matter, this paper reports the results of a

qualitative study that attempted to delve more deeply into how students’ perceive their lack of

religious fit at a religious institution, the development of their sense of fit, and the role other

factors play in this development.

Literature Review

Foundational research by Vincent Tinto (1986, 1997) frames much of the discussion of

student persistence at an institution. His work identified key components in student persistence,

such as student background variables, institutional variables, student goals and aspirations, and

peer influences, among others. Subsequent studies have utilized Tinto’s work to emphasize the

importance of academic integration and social integration either as separate constructs or

conjoined ones (Burks & Barrett, 2007). In some cases, researchers have supplemented Tinto’s

model with additional elements, such as worldview fit, a measure of ideological congruence

(Morris, Beck, & Mattis, 2007), and spiritual integration, a measure of religious congruence

(Morris, Smith, & Cejda, 2003; Morris, Beck, & Smith, 2004). Although Tinto’s model is in

widespread use, the emphasis on integration in Tinto’s model has been strongly critiqued for its

3

assumption that a student must relinquish prior supports and identity elements in order to become

part of a new academic community, particularly in reference to some historically

underrepresented groups (Hurtado & Carter, 1997).

Nevertheless, researchers and practitioners continue to find Tinto’s identification of

student and institutional factors that effect the decision to remain or depart useful. Based on or in

response to Tinto’s conceptualization, factors found to be influential to student persistence

include a student’s institutional commitment (Davidson, Beck, & Milligan, 2009), self-efficacy

and life purpose (Dewitz, Woolsey, & Walsh, 2009), the availability of institutional support and

congruence with institutional values (Elkins, Braxton, & James, 2000), sense of belonging

(Hausmann, Schofield, & Woods, 2007; Hurtado & Carter, 1997), academic engagement and

success (Davidson, Beck, & Milligan, 2009; Leenson, McNeil, & Joiner, 2013; Martinez, Sher,

Krull, & Wood, 2009), and social factors such as stress, substance abuse, fatigue, and relational

tension (Pritchard & Wilson, 2003). As general categories, institutional, academic, social, and

demographic factors frequently have been found to influence the likelihood of student departure

(Leveson, McNeil, & Joiner, 2013; Martinez, et al., 2009).

Congruence between an individual’s identity and needs, and an institution’s context,

identity, and resources has also been found to affect student persistence in a variety of ways. For

example, smaller and less selective institutions (including community colleges, technical

colleges, and liberal arts colleges) may lack adequate academic and social support services for

their students. The absence of these resources has been found to impact student persistence

negatively, particularly affecting those from traditionally underrepresented groups. Similarly,

first generation or rural students may find a lack of person-environment fit between their prior

4

experiences of social support and the scale of a large institution (Martinez, Sher, Krull, & Wood,

2009; Rood, 2009).

A sense of fit is also related to a perception of congruence between a student’s values,

beliefs, and assumptions and those that are publicly or tacitly endorsed by their institution

(Feldman, Smart, & Ethington, 2004; Gilbreath, Kim, & Nichols, 2011). Morris et al. (2004)

found that spiritual integration in the context of a Christian university was as significant a

predictor of persistence as Tinto’s social and academic predictors alone. Thus, “spiritual

integration is important because students who find it difficult to spiritually identify or connect

with their college or university are more likely to go elsewhere for their education” (Patten &

Rice, 2009, p. 45).

In the discussion of religion and persistence, faith-based institutions are finding issues of

religious fit are relevant due to the slow ebb of demographic change. At most faith-based

institutions, the percentage of students who claim the founding denomination as their own is in

decline (Davignon, Glanzer, & Rine, 2013). Attracting sufficient students (for low selectivity

institutions) or high achieving students (for prestigious institutions) has increased the likelihood

that many students may be unfamiliar with the guiding beliefs and practices of their college or

university. Prior studies have shown that a lack of religious fit or worldview fit can negatively

impact student satisfaction and persistence (Burks & Barrett, 2009; Morris, Beck & Smith, 2004).

In a quantitative study, first year religious minority students (that is, students from faith

traditions that differ from the institution) dropped out of a Christian university at a higher rate

than their institutional peers (Patten & Rice, 2009). However, due to the methodological

approach of this study, no further insights regarding the sense making about religious fit or the

perceptions of religious minority students about the institution was available. Many studies have

5

relied on quantitative methodologies that, while establishing the links between phenomena, now

require other approaches to deepen our understanding of congruence and departure decision-

making. Specifically, learning how students experience, make sense of, and conclude that their

current institution is or is not a good fit needs to be better understood. The decision to depart or

not can obscure other important activities occurring simultaneously. These hidden processes

include the steps students take to adapt and re-prioritize the factors that contribute to their

determination of fit and the factors that influence them to respond to or disregard perceived

incongruences.

In this study we focus on first year students who have already indicated a lack of fit with

a faith-based institution’s Christian environment. Through qualitative methods we sought to

understand the factors that influence participant’s perceptions of fit, how they adapt or do not

adapt to the institutional environment, and what factors are most important in their

considerations of departure. Thus, this study is guided by the following research question: How

do first year students who are contemplating departure perceive and construct a sense of

religious fit or incongruence with the particular religious environment of a faith-based

institution?

Methods

Using a qualitative research framework, this study sought to gain an understanding of the

ways that first year students make sense of their self-identified lack of religious fit, adapt to this

incongruence with their environment, and choose to persist within or depart from this

environment despite or because of these difficulties. In order to accomplish this goal, we relied

upon the narratives shared by the study’s participants as our primary data source. Qualitative

inquiry emphasizes the significance of participants’ unique interpretations of their experiences

6

(Hesse-Biber & Leavy, 2011). The current study operated under the assumption that each

participant is engaged in a process of constructing a conception of fit with the university based

on their prior experiences, relationships, commitments, and the meaning or perceptions they

ascribe to their present environment and experiences. Many of these elements are reflective of

Tinto’s persistence model (1986, 1997). However, conceptually, our desire to remain open to the

breadth of factors that might influence study participants trumped adherence to any pre-existing

model. Since students in this study had already indicated that they were both questioning

religious fit and pondering institutional departure, understanding the influences and processes

whereby they develop this sense of incongruence in the context of a faith-based university

reflects the sense-making orientation of a qualitative approach.

Sample

To address these issues, we relied on first-hand interview data gathered from 21 first-time,

first-year students enrolled full time at a faith-based university. Participants ranged from 18 to 20

years old. Participants were predominantly female (17), though racially and ethnically diverse:

38.1% were White, non-Hispanic, 28.6% were Hispanic of any race, 14.3% were Asian, 9.5%

were Black or African American, and 9.5% self-identified as Bi- or Multi-Racial. All participants

lived on campus in some type of university-sponsored residence hall housing system.

Student participants were identified based on their responses on the fall 2013 MAP-

Works student self-assessment survey administered by the university. Factors that determined

which students were invited included those who met the minimum age requirement (age 18),

responses indicating a lack of fit with the institution’s religious environment, and responses

indicating that a student may be considering transferring to another institution. The residence hall

7

community advisors in which the participants live administered this survey. This initial data

collection process occurred within the first six weeks of the student’s university career.

Participant Protection

All participants were given pseudonyms to protect their identity. In our findings we also

generalized places and obscured descriptions that might reveal the identity of participants.

Participants were invited to sign an informed consent form detailing the purpose of the study and

their right to refuse to answer any questions and to decline to participate further in the study at

any point. Data has been kept in a password-protected file on the lead researcher’s computer, and

has only been shared with those on the research team. Prior to sharing, any identifying markers

have been removed in order to maintain clarity and ethical consideration.

Data Collection and Analysis

Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were used as the primary source of data collection.

A team of trained interviewers conducted the interviews as part of a graduate-level course.

Interviewers used a short interview protocol, relying on their ability to probe for follow-up

questions and prompts. These expectations allowed the interviewer to guide discussion in several

general categories and pursue the topic in keeping with the participant’s own experiences and

sense-making processes. Interviews lasted between 45-minutes to one-hour in length.

All interviews were transcribed verbatim and entered into Nvivo-10 ethnographic

software for analysis. Interview data was analyzed through a two-stage approach that emphasizes

identifying the categories and sense-making of participants (Saldana, 2013). The first level of

coding focused on building broad descriptive categories to capture the participants’ lived

experiences and perceptions of a lack of religious fit. In the second level, the researchers

compared specific descriptive categories to identify patterns in participants’ accounts related to

8

our research focus, in order to create a larger, meta-narrative of this data. Fifteen descriptive

categories emerged as a result of this process.

The original 15 categories were checked for inter-coder reliability by four researchers

who each coded through two interviews, starting with the codes that were generated during the

previous semester. The goal, in this stage, was to make sure the shared codes reflected the

meaning-making of participants. The researchers were instructed to add or amend the pre-

established codes as necessary, seeing them as general, descriptive codes.

The 21 interviews were then divided between the various researchers, and each

researcher used the list of codes presented previously in order to make sense of the data. Each

interview was re-coded based on the amended list to assure that all codes were preceding from

the same process. Once all the interviews were coded through according to the general codes, the

research team divided the “pots” that were created in order to pattern code (Saldana, 2013) for

categories and outliers. This process allowed the research team to see data across cases that we

did and did not code. After this stage was completed, we met a third time in order to create a

general, overarching storyline that summarized and described the experience of first-year

students who lacked a sense of religious fit with their institution.

Findings

In general, the students in this study perceived their university environment to be made

up of three different, smaller environments: (1) an academic environment, (2) a social

environment, and (3) specific to this study’s environment, a religious environment. However,

given that academic, social, and religious aspects of the student experience have been explored at

length, this paper focuses on the way in which students understand what it means to fit within

this environment.

9

In the following section we detail our findings in three phases: (1) their background and

pre-matriculation experiences and expectations, (2) their university experience, and (3) their

reflection on their experiences in the context of a possible departure decision. Our findings

highlight how students who have already identified a sense of religious incongruence with their

university environment develop and attempt to meet the terms of a minimum acceptable

threshold of fit.

Pre-Matriculation Factors

Prior religious background. One of the most noteworthy features of these students who

did not fit was their prior experience with lack of religious fit. All but four participants indicated

some type or level of religious discontinuity between their own views and at least one of their

parents’ views. For example, Gary talked about how his family used to attend an Episcopal

Church growing up. “When I was really young we would go consistently but then my father and

mother got divorced and we started going less and less. And then we pretty much stopped going

entirely.” His mother is still Christian, but he does not know his father’s religious beliefs and he

describes himself as agnostic since he notes, “I’ve never really felt a connection [to God] before

and I feel like that would be really important.”    In short, prior to experiencing a lack of religious

fit in college, they have already experienced some form of lack of religious fit in their family.

Moreover, among the four that had consistency with their parents’ religion or

nonreligious beliefs, there were other important distinctive factors. In two cases, the student and

the parents were Chinese (Koubai and Lilly); in the third case the students’ parents immigrated

from India (Lizzy), and in the fourth case (Samantha), the students’ parents were missionaries

and the student had lived and grown up in another country. Taken together, all of these students

had either experienced religious differences and lack of fit in their family life, they were ethnic

10

minorities, or they had lived in another country for a substantial period of time. We would

suggest that these findings indicate that students’ sense of not belonging or experiencing a lack

of fit had already emerged prior to attending a religious university.

Table 1: Self-Identified Religious Identity of Subjects and Their Parents Name Religious Identity

Descriptor Mother Father Married,

Divorced Alaina Kind of non-

denominational Christian Christian M

Becky Christian Ultra-Conservative Christian

Ultra-Conservative Christian

M

Catherine Jewish Jewish Baptist M Emily Atheist or agnostic Spiritual Spiritual M Gary Agnostic Christian/Theist Agnostic (?) D Ginger Something more

powerful than I am AA approach to

religion Never Mentioned D

James Liberal Christian Catholic/Baptist Baptist D Justine Nonreligious Baptist Nonreligious Koubai Atheist Atheist/Communist Atheist/Communist M Lawrence Nondenominational Methodist Methodist M Lilly None Nonreligous Nonreligious M Lizzy Hindu Hindu Hindu M Luis Catholic but I don’t

practice it. Nonreligious Nonreligious M

Michael Christian Catholic/Christian Not Sure D Pearl Methodist Catholic Nonreligious M Pari agnostic/atheist/ Hindu/ I

don’t know. Hindu Strong Hindu M

Samantha Nondenominational Nondenominational Nondenominational M Simone Atheist Christian Christian M Suzanna Agnostic Methodist Methodist D Tasha I believe in a sort of god

but not a specific god. Catholic Catholic M

Theresa Atheist Catholic Catholic M

The second way that these students experienced lack of fit had to do with the university’s

religious identity. Although two participants listed that they were affiliated with the same

denomination as the institution in the initial survey, in our interviews not one of the participants

self-identified as that denomination (although two did mention they currently attended a church

11

of that denomination). Moreover, their identities were also extremely varied and included the

following self-descriptors: agnostic (2), agnostic/atheist/Hindu/I don’t know, atheist (3),

Catholic—non practicing, Christian-liberal, Christian--plain (2), Hindu, Jew, Methodist

Nondenominational (3), none/nonreligious (2), “something out there that’s more powerful than I

am,” and “I believe in a sort of god but not a specific god. So I don’t really have a group I guess.”

Religiously speaking, those with a lack of fit were an incredibly diverse audience.

What held this diverse group in common was their approach to religion. Apart from two

exceptions, most would fit into what Astin, Astin and Lindholm (2011) describe as the “spiritual

but not religious” category. They were less likely to affirm doctrine and organized religious

practices. Instead, they affirmed a nondoctrinal and nonjudgmental approach to religion. Tasha,

provides an example.

I grew up Catholic. We went to a Catholic church and everything but as I got older I just

didn’t know. I mean I’m not an atheist. I believe in a sort of god but not a specific god.

So I don’t really have a group I guess….I pray and I don’t know. I just don’t really know

how to describe it. I just don’t think there is one correct religion. I mean why does there

have to be? That’s the way I see it. I mean I hope there is something after this life

because if it’s just this life then that would be meaningless and we’re all just here and

then we go to the dirt and we die….I mean I’m sure that there is a god; I just don’t think

there is a specific god.

These individuals did not want a religion that exclude or judges anyone. Not surprisingly, hardly

any engage in religious practices. Luis noted, “And I still consider myself Catholic but we don’t

practice it.” The one religious practice in which they may engage is praying. Pari, the self-

identified agnostic/atheist/Hindu admitted that she also seems to be a theist:

12

I mean I pray, like I it’s not that I don’t want to say that there’s not a God, like I would

like to believe that there is a God and he’s in my life every day, but there’s always

something in my mind that like stops me from believing that because I always look at life

like I guess in a biological perspective and not in a religious perspective, so I guess like

there’s always a barrier in my mind.

These individuals did not want to be boxed in by religious labels and doctrine. Even Becky, the

student attending the denominational church noted, “I don’t feel the need to identify as a

[denomination name] or any other member of a denomination.“ They see themselves creating

their own religion to suit their tastes. Emily shared about her family’s journey from organized

religion to a form of self-created spirituality, “I was baptized Lutheran but my family and I kind

of had our spiritual discoveries and learning and my parents ended up disliking organized

religion. It was a process of finding our own belief systems instead of one that was created for us

I guess.” As in Emily’s case, this approach was sometimes influenced by parents’ experiences

and choices. Others had departed from their parent’s religion and become more spiritual. Pari

claimed, “My faith is just its own thing, like Judaism, Islam, and like Christianity kind of meshed

and I guess they make more sense together.”

Decision to attend. Students in the study used a variety of strategies and processes to

make their college choice decisions. These ranged from practical, systematic evaluations of their

options to basing their decision on “just a feeling.” Despite these various approaches to college

choice, academics stood out as a particularly salient value among participants. Academic

opportunities and the reputation of the institution played a central role in these students’

hierarchy of college characteristics. For instance, Pari reflected on how academic reputation

actually swayed her decision. “It was never one of my college choices. I had top three schools, it

13

was like Berkley, UT, and NYU, and I did get into all of them, but then like, they didn’t really

have good pre-med programs, so I was like [this institution] is known for their pre-med. I got

into the Honors College and it was basically that.” Students consistently noted the belief that

their choice would benefit them the most in their academic and professional success.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the religious affiliation or spiritual aspect of the campus was

largely a non-factor for students in their college decision (see table 2). Participants largely chose

the university for reasons that were unrelated to its religious identity. Even though Catherine

mentioned morals, she even attributed the hoped for high morals to the institution being private,

not religious.

Participants expressed a strong commitment to a quality education in their decision

making process. Students indicated that their choice of institution was a smart decision based on

their future goals, plans for advanced degrees, and career preparation and opportunities. Lizzy

remarked, “I definitely chose it because of what it could offer me in my major. It has a very good

health program…. So I knew this school would be in my best benefit.” Participants also

frequently remarked on the value of their degree based on the name recognition of the institution.

For instance, Becky noted about her college choice, “I was looking for something that I

could…where I could get a degree and I could just have it be more acceptable and get me further

along…”

The perceived academic environment of the institution sometimes influenced students’

decision to attend despite pre-matriculation perceptions that the religious environment of the

school would not be a good fit. An academic emphasis regarding college choice was nearly

universal, while the religious environment of the institution was a deciding factor for only one of

our participants. Teresa directly indicated the primacy of academics in her evaluation of her

14

decision to attend, stating, “Religion was not a factor for me personally, if anything it was a

minor detractor just for me, but everything else about the campus, the statistics of its medical

program, how many people do get in, everything said it was the right choice.”

Table 2: Religious Identity a Factor in the College Decision Name Religious Identity Descriptor Religious Identity a Factor in College Decision? Alaina Kind of non-denominational [yes], the Christian environment Becky Christian “looking for a more religiously diverse and

not as conservative of an environment” Catherine Jewish Hoped that “by choosing a private school

that there would be more morals” Emily Atheist or agnostic I would have come here regardless Gary Agnostic No Ginger Something more powerful than I am No James Liberal Christian It wasn’t at all. Justine Nonreligious Not really Koubai Atheist No Lawrence Nondenominational Not really Lilly None No Lizzy Hindu Felt that it would mesh well with morals Luis Catholic but I don’t practice it. No Michael Christian No Pearl Methodist It wasn’t really a factor Pari agnostic/atheist/ Hindu/ I don’t know. No Samantha Nondenominational No Simone Atheist No Suzanna Agnostic No Tasha Believe in a god but not a specific god Not really Theresa Atheist I made my choice based on academics Experiences with Religion at the University

In light of the above background, it comes as little surprise then that what made some of

these interviewees begin to sense a lack of religious fit with the university were their experiences

of encountering more robust forms of public religious practices and doctrine. It should be noted

that these experiences were specifically identified by about half of participants. These

experiences did not typically make them angry or frustrated with religion. Rather, religious

15

expressions perhaps made them feel something that is worse in the eyes of a 21st century

millennial: feeling uncomfortable and excluded.

These early experiences occurred at pre-university events that were meant to familiarize

the student with the university. Emily recalled that her lack of discomfort did not stem from

people, but it come from a lack of familiarity with the Christian rituals and content:

No one really made me feel uncomfortable. Everyone was very respectful and in our

small group discussions at line camp, people were very open to the things I had to say. It

was just more of “I don’t know what’s going on” and “I don’t know what to do” and “I

don’t know the words to this song,” that kind of thing. It was never an “I’m upset with

people” thing, it was more of “what do I do?”

Others felt uncomfortable with elements that included worship or prayer. For instance, Justine

noted at one event, “they kind of lead you out in song and prayer. And the whole experience is

very spiritual and I didn’t really, I felt very out of place there.” Ginger shared how at one event

the president opened up by leading everyone in prayer:

It kind of freaked me out …I’m totally okay with people praying but at any point when

you take a really diverse audience of people and you have everyone doing the same thing,

it makes me uncomfortable. Like it makes me think what if someone wouldn’t be okay

with this? What if someone here isn’t okay with being led in prayer? It made me slightly

uncomfortable and it just kind of discouraged me from feeling like I could fit in.

For this group of students, religious activities that were seen as possibly offending someone were

problematic and increased their sense of religious incongruence.

University Experiences

16

Upon entering the university, students soon perceived that they either fit or did not fit

within the environment’s religious culture. The students we chose to interview had all indicated

that they did not fit within the university, and through the qualitative interviews we discovered

that these individuals generally used four techniques to find ways of overcoming this lack of fit:

(1) finding social support, (2) understanding the religious environment in a moral manner, (3)

becoming familiar with the religious environment; and (4) searching for a deeper or more

universal meaning within the environment. These four strategies helped students achieve a

“threshold” or line of minimum acceptability for these students, and became used as means of

coping with their lack of congruence with the environment.

(1) Finding Social Support: Most students in this study mentioned a need to find

meaningful others with whom they could share their experience of “not fitting” within this

university culture. Finding social support as a means of coping with a lack of fit provided an

outlet through which these students could share their experiences, and in turn, create a sense of

fit with those who either felt the same way or would “make room” for them to share their

experiences. Although this type of support was mostly found in peer groups (i.e., friends and

roommates), students in this study also found this sense of congruence in finding another person

(e.g., religious leaders or staff on campus) who would listen to them and becoming a sounding

board for their feelings. The students who were not able to find a sense of social support spoke

about feelings of loneliness that accompanied their university experience.

Friends and roommates. The largest place of social support for students in this study was

their peer group. As these students began to create a connection with another peer, they began to

realize that they felt cared for and listened to—their sense of incongruence was mitigated and a

perception of fit began to emerge as these connections happened. Emily stated this need when

17

she noted, “I wouldn’t mind having a couple people that you can say, ‘hey me too,’ that kind of

thing. The friends I’ve made are wonderful. It doesn’t matter what your beliefs are when you’re

friends with somebody but it would be cool to have a couple people just to say, ‘hey me too.’”

Emily found a social network through which she can relate, however, she wanted this mutual,

shared understanding of lack of fit. Simply knowing that another person was going through this

experience was enough for Emily to find this sense of social congruence.

Although Emily’s loneliness is apparent in the quote mentioned above, she was able to

reflect upon a connection she had made with her student resident assistant (RA). “Oh my RA is

great!” Emily said. She’s asked me to go get lunch with her a couple of times and she’s awesome

about organizing hall activities. It’s great.” When asked if she felt comfortable talking with her

about religious issues, Emily responded by saying, “Yeah. That’s definitely come up over lunch

a couple of times and she’s been super open to what I have to say. And we’ve had some good

back and forth discussions about that.” Emily appreciated the openness to this relationship and

felt like she was able to explain her religious perspective, and in some ways, find a place to begin

having these types of conversations.

Becky shared a similar experience:

I’ve had some really kind of remarkable stuff go on in terms of my [social] realm. I’ve

had this one student who took it upon himself to just reach out to me and really let me

know that he cared about me... it’s been so cool because that started to like kind of creep

in under the edges and ease that loneliness.

This sense of care demonstrated to Becky that she was not necessarily alone in the way she was

feeling and helped her feel more connected. She concluded her reflection by explaining,

“Something about the security of that connection has just made me courageous about reaching

18

out to other people and being more in touch with people as potential friends.” She had been

feeling on the outskirts of her university environment due to her lack of fit within the

environment, but as this friendship has developed, she noted, “It’s just like the isolation has been,

in almost every realm, lessened.”

Lizzy echoed similar sentiments to those Becky mentioned when she explained, “I talked

to other girls and everyone else was feeling exactly the same way. I talked to the other girls in

my dorm how and then I talked to my friends outside and they were feeling exactly the same

way.” When she understood that “everyone else was having difficulty adjusting,” she said that

she, “stopped being so hard on myself and thinking maybe it’s me. Maybe I’m coming on too

strong. I just relaxed and let people come to me.” Upon reflecting on these conversations with

valued others, Lizzy explains that she, “should have done this from the beginning.” She realized

that she has a lot more in common with people than she originally thought.

James, a non traditional ROTC student, explained his sense of fit within the ROTC

environment when he explained: “I sit with my friends at chapel. It’s like a whole row of ROTC

kids because that’s right after ROTC on Wednesday and you can see us all napping.” He did not

usually feel like a “Jesus freak” and saw chapel as something that he had to go through, but he

was surprised when he said, “It’s fun. Like we’ll get up you know and we’ll stand and sing

together like we did on Wednesday.” Responding to being asked directly if he has found fit with

ROTC people, he concluded that they were most of his friends because these are the people he

sees every day and those who understand him the most. These are the people who provide James

with his support and his sense of fit, especially as James concluded, “These are the people I

know, and I don’t stand out with them.”

19

Not every student had a “peer story” of support similar to that of Becky, Lizzy, or James.

In fact, some students, like Emily mentioned above, did not have anyone on a peer level with

who they felt like they could find fit. Gary spoke about this sense of loneliness and isolation

when he had a difficult time getting connected to people due to his perceived lack of religious fit.

He described this tension in the following manner:

I think that part of the reason I have such a hard time connecting is because when it

comes to deeper conversations, since most of it is Christian, my deeper conversations are

kind of different than most people’s here. And that’s a big way to connect with someone.

For you to be able to get down and [have] the one-on-one conversations where you talk

about important stuff. I can’t do that.

Gary described his response as “backing off” due to the desire not to create an argument. He

explained,

People are really serious here about their beliefs and again, I respect that but if we’re

talking about philosophy or whatnot, they’ll always bring in the Bible or what Jesus said

or whatnot. And I’m trying to talk about what they believe personally and they always

reference something else. And I can’t do that.

Gary’s comments about not being able to have these conversations reflect obstacles to

communication, as if Gary speaks a different language than those with which his is trying to

develop relationships. He noted that he tries to avoid conversations about religious perspectives,

because he does not want to create conflicts. However, in the end, Gary perceives that the

conversations he has with other students result in his sense that full candor has been achieved: “I

want to know what they actually think, and it makes it difficult to make a connection there.” This

lack of ability to engage in meaningful dialogue makes it difficult for Gary to find a sense of

20

congruence or to establish a minimum level of fit. Although he has still met “some people who

will sit down and have conversations,” these people are few and far between for Gary and

contribute to his lack of congruence with his university environment.

Simone also had difficulty finding social support with her roommate as a result of the

conclusions she draws about difference in religious belief. She explained that she is very open

with her roommate about her religious identity as an atheist. She commented, “I talked to my

roommate, and she knows that I’m atheist and she’s really strong in her beliefs.” Simone

continued, “Sometimes we go back and forth and make jokes. She’ll be reading her Bible and

she’ll like say something and I’ll be like ‘oh yeah haha like you know what I mean.’ We’ll joke

around about this.” Upon further reflection of this relationship, Simone realized, “I haven’t found

my place yet, because I’m not fitting into the religious aspect.” Despite finding humor in her

religious differences with her roommate, these differences also serve as a reminder of the non-

normativity of her beliefs, reinforcing her perceived lack of fit.

Full-time religious leaders. Other students found support by developing specific

relationships with full-time religious leaders within their university environment. Most of the

time, these students found that either they could be interpersonally open and honest with the

spiritual life staff about how they felt about their experiences, or the spiritual life staff would

mention something in chapel that caused these students to reframe their expectations of a

spiritual life staff member.

Becky explained that she has actually “talked to the chaplain around here” after a

meaningful talk that he gave in chapel. “I went up to talk to him about it afterwards and that just

led to another meeting and then that’s led to him taking me on a sort of a pastoral-counseling

client or he calls it spiritual direction.” The feedback he provided confirmed for her that she was

21

“actually not that far off track with what I’ve been thinking.” She explained that, “what’s been

really neat about talking to him is that it’s been a really reassuring experience. It’s been very

confirming and kind of freed me up from the fear and the anxiety so I can just relax and enjoy

being where I am.” This conversation propelled Becky toward having more conversations with

other spiritual life leaders. She said,

It’s just been really nice to talk to them and to…I came from such a conservative

environment and so it’s been such an uphill battle and so often I find myself disagreeing

with the people that I grew up with. So it’s like a breath of fresh air to sit down in an

office with them and just be like “Hey! This is what’s going on. This is what I’m thinking

about it.” And to have them go, “Yeah! That’s valid. That’s an okay thing to be thinking

and feeling.”

The spiritual life office has provided a place for Becky to be open and honest about her questions

regarding her religious fit within the larger university environment and has helped her feel like

these questions are appropriate to be asking. In this way, the spiritual life staff members are

helping Becky to create a sense of fit with the university environment by providing a piece of

relational or social support for her.

Sometimes, the realization of this sense of fit came through a specific chapel message.

Gary related his experience as he explained that he finds the head chaplain to be a “genius.” Due

to his admiration for intelligent people, he commented that when the head chaplain talks, “He

brings in things that I can apply to my life. It’s not just about a spiritual connection, it has some

concrete things like keeping an open mind and accepting people.” By encountering these ideas

Gay perceives that the life concepts advanced by a university representative (and by extension,

the university as well) are applicable to him. However, the other speakers who do not provide

22

these messages are not as meaningful to Gary. He made this comparison by stating, “He’s a good

speaker and I enjoy him. But the other speakers they come in and they just talk about the

spiritual side of things and it’s basically me just sitting there, listening. I can’t even get to sleep

because he has the microphone. That’s a whole other ball game.” Gary lost interest in the other

speakers because their message is not as meaningful to him as keeping an open mind and

accepting others, which are issues that Gary is extremely passionate about due to feeling like one

who is not necessarily fully and always accepted by his larger university culture.

(2) Appreciating the moral environment: Seven students within this study found the

value of the religious environment by recasting it through a moral framework. For instance,

Emily, upon reflecting on Chapel, explained, “And the other thing that I was really excited about

was, I knew that even if I wasn’t necessarily a Christian, I liked the morals that were supported

and that people were telling me about. So the morality was more important than the religion for

me.” Emily found acceptability in the institution’s religious focus by choosing to focus on the

moral elements of its message. Similarly, Catherine noted that while she did not always feel

included by her peers due to their religious differences, she noted that religious conversations

pushed her to “be a good person,” and she even “likes the things they are saying.” Lizzy

described how she found a shared perspective with her Muslim roommate with regard to

interpreting Christian messages as positive moral influences.

We did talk about why we were here and why did she pick this institution and why did I

pick this institution. She told me she liked the Christian perspective and that it makes you

a better person. I could understand that like chapel and the other Christian aspects of the

school do make you even more virtuous.

23

Lizzy reflected and affirmed her choice to come by explaining that she appreciated her

expanded knowledge base about religion. She even can go to church with her friends and

understand the overall message of the service. She said,

If anything, I’m kind of grateful for it now. I’ve learned a lot through it morally and I

think it’s made me more open to the religion itself. It helped me connect the dots from

stories I’d heard and Christian religions I’ve never understood, I understand now; like the

story behind it, the Biblical passage behind it. I feel more knowledgeable and more open-

minded through it.

Lizzy was able to shift her understanding of the religious environment to a spiritual environment

and consequently become grateful for this effect upon her life, her morality, and her knowledge

base of world religions.

(3) Becoming familiar with the religious environment. Most students in this study

had come to a place of acceptance with the environment. Although almost all of them knew they

were coming to a religious institution, a number of students still found the initial experiencing

surprising or overwhelming. After a while though, they became familiar with it. For example,

James mentioned regarding the religious environment, “It doesn’t surprise me anymore because

it’s just a part of campus life.” He finished by saying, “It’s really just sort of amusing now.”

Lawrence spoke about getting used to this environment, especially after the first month of school.

“That was a really overwhelming time,” he said. “I think I’ve just gotten used to it. I was bored

all the time and homesick, and this Christian environment was overwhelming. Now I’ve grown

to adapt to it and I take it for what it is.” Again, Lawrence has accepted this environment and is

not overwhelmed or bothered by it any more. Theresa commented on a sense of separation she

felt with the environment by remarking that it was “odd.” She noted, “I suppose it is odd when

24

hundreds of people around you are taking part in something and you stand there and don’t. It’s

not uncomfortable, it’s just odd, it’s like you’re witnessing something as opposed to taking part

in it.” Even though Theresa’s feelings may be the strongest in terms of the collected responses,

she still holds a certain acceptance of the oddness of the environment and is not trying to change

it simply to make herself feel better. Overall, most students in this study connected with

Catherine’s perspective, “It’s important to me to fit. I’m away from home so I’d like to have

something that makes me feel comfortable. I can adapt, though—I’ll take it like a grain of salt.”

The “it” that Catherine is referring to is her lack of religious congruence within this environment

and her ability to adapt accordingly.

(4) Engaging the religious environment. Finally, a few students (the smallest

percentage in this sample), tried to engage with the religious environment by making a good faith

effort to experience and learn from the institution’s religious practices and teachings. Each time a

student did this, he or she encountered these new experiences with limited preconceptions and

simply tried engaging with the religious culture. Luis, for example, noted that he feels

comfortable with the religious environment, but he just “goes with it. If we’re praying, I’ll pray.

If we are reading the Bible, I’ll read it.” He makes a careful distinction not to become “religious,”

but for Luis, using the religious practices was a way to connect with the larger environment.

Lizzy also expressed caution about wholesale adoption of her institution’s religious practices.

However, participating in them has resulted in increased acceptance. She said,

I think when we pray together at candlelight and we discuss changing the world and

making it better in chapel I think it…I’m more open. I accept it more. I’m not saying I’m

going to convert or anything but I really do…I changed my perspective.

25

Lizzy connected these experiences to a better understanding of Christianity and of common

religious expressions across specific religious traditions. Becky’s participation in chapel, though

compulsory in attendance, still resulted in a new perspective on God because of her willingness

to listen carefully to Christian scriptures.

I heard someone reading or describing these people in a psalm and the way he described

their experience just completely clicked with me and something about hearing my

experience in a way, worded through the Bible was like, “Oh God actually does

understand how I feel.” That let me know that I’m not alone because you can’t know

somebody from a distance and so if God knows how I feel then he must be with me. And

that’s made a huge difference.

By connecting with this religious practice, Becky was able to create a sort of congruence with

the religious environment and this helped her feel a deeper sense of belonging on campus. This

caused her to feel less isolated and that someone else understood how she felt, even if this was

something that lies outside of her current religious understanding.

Finally, some students engaged the religious environment by searching for a deeper or

more universal meaning within it. Tasha described this sense of searching as, “The longer I’m

here, I feel like I’m getting closer to finding out that maybe I do believe in something.”

Lawrence echoed Tasha’s words by saying, “I guess, I chose this institution for a reason, but I

haven’t really found that reason yet. I know something made me come here, but I haven’t found

my purpose in being here, yet.” Although neither Lawrence nor Tasha can pinpoint an exact

reason for persisting at or choosing their institution, they are realizing that there are some

worthwhile aspects of this institutional culture but it will take a bit of searching to find them.

Thoughts about Transferring

26

Each participant was directly asked their thoughts on transferring to another institution, in

light of the religious incongruence they had identified. Although a few students had actively

begun or planned to begin the process of choosing and transferring to another institution, most

students only described their thoughts about transferring in hypothetical terms. At the time of the

MAPWorks survey, about half of participants indicated they were considering transferring,

though that number declined by the time we interviewed them.

For most students, including those who had already decided to leave the institution, a

sense of social fit or the presence of friendships on campus influenced their thoughts about

transferring. For students who expressed a desire or decision to leave, lack of social connections

was often a significant factor. Samantha had already been accepted to another university when

she described the role her parents played in supporting her decision to transfer:

And then my mom came down after she found out that I was struggling and they weren’t

able to come for family weekend so she came a week before and was kind of able to see

how everything was. And that helped them realize that I’m not fitting in so well so

they’ve been really supportive of my decisions.

For some students, the lack of social fit was described as an outgrowth of the lack of religious fit

with the institution. Emily described this belief by drawing a causal relationship between the

religious label of the university and her fit with the social environment, “I do think it would be

easier for me socially and a few other ways at a university that didn’t have a label on it like [this

institution] does, but again, I knew what I was signing up for.” Gary also represented this point

of view in his worries about how his perceived lack of religious fit would affect his social fit and

potential relationships.

27

The role of social connections, when present, also served as a staying factor for students,

even despite describing a lack of fit with the religious environment. Suzanna, who expressed

feeling isolated in chapel and religion courses described friendships as one of the main factors in

wanting to stay.

Right now I would say that the consequences of being at a religiously affiliated school

like [this institution] and specifically the experiences I’ve had at [this institution], that

alone is not going to make me transfer just because there’s other aspects that play a part

in my place at [this institution]… My friends are another pro of why I would stay here. If

I transferred I wouldn’t have them or like be around them.

An additional persistence factor for students who felt a lack of fit with the religious

environment was the academic reputation of the school, a factor which closely mirrored their

decision to attend in the first place. For Theresa, “Education’s always at the top, I have a very, I

suppose, lofty goal and I’m going to do whatever I can to make sure I get there and my education

is always foremost in any decision I make regarding my schooling.”

A Recommendation: More Diversity

At the conclusion of the interview, participants were invited to make recommendations to

the institution in light of the religious fit and incongruence issues they had experienced. Not

surprisingly, several students who described the religious environment as being “too much”

made suggestions that the institution devote more energy to increasing diversity. These

recommendations were often explicitly connected to the student’s personal experience of

isolation or discomfort, such as in Gary’s example.

If I could say one thing that should try to be improved it’s that whenever you set the

events for an entire community to go to this prayer ceremony, and it makes people like

28

me uncomfortable, then it’s difficult and it basically singles us out....And I think a good

direction [the institution] could go is by having periods of time or events that aren’t so

centralized around specifically Christianity. But times and events that are just kind of

designed to make people think and feel but not necessarily, it needs to be less directed.

Gary’s suggestion involved de-emphasizing Christianity in public practices. His justification for

the removal was based on the discomfort that people might feel. However, in later comments he

recognized the institution’s investment in maintaining a particularly religious identity.

Similarly, Suzanna described the need to acknowledge more diverse views, but suggested

doing so through the addition of other viewpoints so as to diversify student experiences and help

students such as herself feel more accepted.

Like specifically in chapel most of the speakers are basically just preaching their religion,

which is always Christian. I think it would make people feel a lot more accepted if we

learned about other religions. … I think college is a time that those avenues should be

discovered.

Again, the basis for Suzanna’s appeal was to students’ feelings of comfort and acceptance.

These recommendations often highlighted students’ expectations of normative pluralistic

thinking and values that perhaps they experienced in a family or public school setting, even as

they recognized and acknowledged that they had chosen to enroll in an institution with a

particular set of religious commitments.

Concluding Discussion

The findings of this study build on and supplement the work of student persistence

researchers (Tinto, 1986, 1997) and others who have subsequently demonstrated the relevance of

religious environmental factors to students’ perceptions of fit (Morris, J. M., Smith, A. B., &

29

Cejda, 2003; Rood, 2009). Much like Tinto’s findings on persistence factors (1986, 1997), the

willingness and ability of participant students to adapt to the academic, social, and religious

environmental factors and construct an acceptable degree of fit depended in part on student’s

background variables, personal goals, and academic and social experiences and expectations.

One of the most unexpected findings had to do with the consistent presence of prior

experiences of religious incongruity within most students’ families. Although it would not be

advisable to generalize too extensively across them, that so many participants were already

familiar with, and to some extent had learned to be comfortable with a diversity of religious

expressions and practices within their familial systems may have prepared them to adapt to or

predisposed them believe that fit within a social system was possible despite such differences.

A second insight of this study is that students had goals or constraints (or inertia) that

made departure undesirable, so many of them attempted to find sufficient reasons to persist.

Finding fit, however, became less a matter of placing a round peg in a round hole, and more a

matter of reshaping the peg and redefining the hole to achieve an acceptable degree of fit. We

describe this minimum acceptable degree of fit as a student’s fit threshold. Participants came to

the institution already perceiving that they may not fit the religious environment. As a result,

they sought out other moorings in the social and academic areas, or ways of reinterpreting the

religious environment, that could affirm their decision to attend. The fit threshold is a way to

conceptualize the combination of factors, different for each individual that combines with other

factors (familial and peer influence outside the institution, aspirations, financial considerations)

to influence decisions to remain or depart. In this study the fit threshold, when met, was satisfied

most often by establishing meaningful interpersonal relationships with peers, through positive

academic experiences that were perceived as worthwhile and appropriately challenging, and via

30

a sense of solidarity with staff or other students who understood and validated their experiences

or were experiencing similar environmental discontinuities.

Across the three major domains of fit in this context (social, academic, religious), we

offer a few summary observations about the relative importance of various types of fit and the

ways participants constructed fit that may or may not hold with other students or in other

situations. First, social, academic, and religious factors were not evenly weighted. Social fit

seemed to mitigate if not trump academic and religious fit: building social bonds in those

formative early weeks of the semester was paramount. Participants attempted to create social fit

in some cases by increasing the efforts they made to be available socially and to participate in

student life, but in other cases, to focus on trying to be authentic and more comfortable with their

own identity. A lack of religious fit mitigated social fit in a variety of ways, contributing to

perceptions that deep conversations could not be had or that full participation in the co-curricular

life was not possible (such as Bible studies, retreats, and other events). In this regard, religious

and student life staff seemed to assuage these concerns in some ways, at the least by validating

experiences and concerns of those who had not developed a sense of religious fit.

Academic fit was also very important to many students, particularly since many had

chosen the institution for primarily academic reasons. Many participants who felt that they had

academic fit but not social and religious fit expressed a desire to remain, perhaps reflecting the

pragmatism of this group of students. Participants sought academic fit by selecting new majors,

dropping classes, and re-evaluating career plans to dovetail with emerging interests.

Religious fit, as we have already alluded, was not a high priority on its own merits but

still influenced social and academic factors. If students were able to develop meaningful

interpersonal relationships or found their studies to meet their expectations then they seemed

31

willing to find ways to adapt to the environment or endure despite religious fit issues. Prior

familial experiences of religious diversity might also have predisposed them to see religion as

something that is personal and that should be compartmentalized, rather than integrated

throughout a person’s life. Many participants seemed to believe that religion is more a matter of

opinion and personal discretion than an over-arching ethos or telos (that is, a view of the ends of

human purpose) that contains a common set of expectations for all members of a social system.

These experiences are also reflective of findings by Christian Smith (2009, 2011) and others who

argue that a predilection for personal deism over religious commitment and personalized moral

relativism over externally-agreed upon moral codes is a current hallmark of a pluralistic youth

culture in the United States. In the context of this study, the combined effect of familial and

cultural socialization to religious pluralism may have predisposed study participants to first

assume that organizational religious expectations would not (and should not) be extended to all

members of the educational community, and second, when encountering these religious

requirements (chapel, religious classes, theological conversations, religious practices and religio-

education rituals), to make them acceptable by re-interpreting them as helpful moral guidelines

or cultural insights.

In this sense, adapting specific religious teachings and practices to a more palatable form

was an important step of fit construction. However, some participants also became more

accepting of Christian perspectives and teachings as a result of this educational exposure, even

though this outcome is largely latent from an institutional perspective. Staff, particularly those

with specific religious functions (chaplains, live-in students responsible for religious climate),

were often instrumental in validating process of questioning, if not endorsing more broadly deist

perspectives that allowed some participants to find some acceptable level of religious congruence

32

in required religious exercises. Overall, these findings highlight the complexities of religious fit

as a factor intertwined with social and academic factors in a student’s decision to remain or

depart.

33

References

Astin, A.W. (1978). Four critical years: Effects of college on beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge.

San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Astin, A.W. (1993). What matters in college? Four critical years revisited. San Francisco:

Jossey-Bass.

Astin, A. W., Astin, H. S., & Lindholm, J. A. (2010). Cultivating the spirit: How college can

enhance students’ inner lives. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Burks, S. A. & Barrett, T. G. (2009). Student characteristics and activity choices of college

freshmen and their intent to persist in religiously affiliated institutions. Christian Higher

Education, 8(5), 351-392.

Davignon, P., Glanzer, P., & Rine, P. J. (2013). Assessing the denominational identity of

American Evangelical colleges and universities, part III: The student experience.

Christian Higher Education, 12(5), 315-330.

Davidson, W. B., Beck, H. P., & Milligan, M. (2009). The college persistence questionnaire:

Development and validation of an instrument that predicts student attrition. Journal of

College Student Development, 50(4), 373-390

DeWitz, S. J., Woolsey, M. L., & Walsh, W. B. (2009). College student retention: An

exploration of the relationship between self-efficacy beliefs and purpose in life among

college students. Journal of College Student Development, 50(1), 19-34

Elkins, S. A., Braxton, J. M., & James, G. W. (2000). Tinto's separation stage and its influence

on first-semester college student persistence. Research in Higher Education, 41(2), 251-

268. doi:10.2307/40196366

34

Hausmann, L. R. M., Schofield, J. W., & Woods, R. L. (2007). Sense of belonging as a predictor

of intentions to persist among African American and white first-year college students.

Research in Higher Education, 48(7), 803-839.

Hesse-Biber, S. N. & Leavy, P. (2011). The practice of qualitative research. (2nd ed.). London:

Sage.

Hurtado, S. & Carter, D. F. (1997). Effects of college transition and perceptions of the campus

racial climate on Latino college students’ sense of belonging. Sociology of

Education, 70(4), 324-345.

Martinez, J. A., Sher, K. J., Krull, J. L., & Wood, P. K. (2009). Blue-collar scholars?: Mediators

and moderators of university attrition in first-generation college students. Journal of

College Student Development, 50(1), 87-103.

Morris, J. M., Beck, R., & Smith, A.B. (2004). Examining Student/Institution fit at a Christian

university: The role of spiritual integration. Journal of Education & Christian Belief, 8(2),

87-100.

Morris, J. M., Smith, A. B., & Cejda, B. D. (2003). Spiritual integration as a predictor of

persistence at a Christian institution of higher education. Christian Higher Education,

2(4), 341.

Patten, T. A. & Rice, N. D. (2009). Religious minorities and persistence at a systemic religiously

affiliated university. Christian Higher Education, 8(1), 42-53.

Pritchard, M. E. & Wilson, G. S. (2003). Using emotional and social factors to predict student

success. Journal of College Student Development, 44(1), 18-28

Rood, R. E. (2009). Driven to achieve: First-generation students' narrated experience at a private

Christian college. Christian Higher Education, 8(3), 225-254.

35

Smith, C., & Snell, P. (2009). Souls in transition: The religious and spiritual lives of emerging

adults. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Smith, C., Christoffersen, K., Davidson, H., & Snell Herzog, P. (2011). Lost in transition: The

dark side of emerging adulthood. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Tinto, V. (1986). Theories of student departure revisited. In J. C. Smart (Ed.), Higher

education: Handbook of theory and research 2 (359-384). New York: Agathon.

Tinto, V. (1997). Classrooms as communities: Exploring the educational character of student

persistence. The Journal of Higher Education, 68(6), 599-623.